He Wasn't Worth It
by Keleficent
Summary: Finn visits Jermaine to help him deal with his feelings about his father.


Jermaine was straightening up his new house when he heard a knock at the door. He was slightly surprised. He didn't have many friends, and they only ones who knew his new address were Jake and…

"Finn?" Jermaine had opened the door to see his adoptive brother.

"Uh, hey, Jermaine." Finn awkwardly rubbed his arm like a shy boy trying to ask a pretty girl on a date. When did they become so awkward around each other? "Is this a bad time?"

"No, come in. Come in." Jermaine stood aside to allow his brother entry.

"Not much stuff in here." Finn looked around to see the house had the bare minimum amount of furnishing.

"Yeah, I know. I guess I'm not used to having stuff of my own yet. I was always looking after Dad's." Jermaine noticed that Finn tensed up at the mention of their father. More disconcerting, though, he saw his brother's eyes begin to water. "Finn?"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come. This was stupid." Finn wiped his eyes and made his way to the door. "Sorry to bother you, bro."

"Whoa, hey, Finn, hold on a second. What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Finn pasted on a smile before facing Jermaine. "Everything's good, bro. I just wanted to come by and say hey."

"You can't fool me, Finn. I know something's bothering you. I'm not Jake."

It was easy to hide his feelings from Jake; he wasn't the most emotionally astute dog in the world. Jermaine was a different story.

That was why Finn came to see Jermaine. Jake had tried his best to be supportive, and Finn was thankful for it. But Jermaine was the one who always knew what to say to make Finn feel better when Jake couldn't cheer him up with laughter.

"I found my father. My…human father, Martin."

"Oh." This certainly wasn't the news Jermaine expected. He rarely thought about Finn having family somewhere else. He just thought of Finn as his own brother; the son of Joshua and Margaret just like him.

Jermaine waited for him to go on, but Finn stayed quiet. "So, uh, what's he like?"

That was apparently not the right thing to say because the tears that lingered on Finn's eyes fell down his cheeks. "A total buttface."

He flung himself at Jermaine and sobbed into his shoulder. Jermaine wrapped his arms around his little brother. He can't remember that last time he and Finn hugged.

"He doesn't care about me, Jermaine, not even a little."

"Aw, kid, I'm sorry."

"I just feel so guilty."

"Why?"

Finn pulled away from the embrace to speak face-to-face with Jermaine. "I feel like a bad son."

"Don't think that, Finn. That creep is the one who abandoned you."

"No, not to him. I mean Dad, our dad."

"Our dad? What do you mean?"

"I shouldn't have gone looking for Martin. I already have a dad. I feel like I betrayed him."

"Finn, I don't think Dad would feel that way. I think he would understand."

"How would you know?"

"Come here. You wanna hear a story about Dad?" Joshua led Finn over to the couch and sat them both down. "Has Dad ever told you about our grandpa?"

"No."

"I figured. He hated his Dad. Grandpa was a real jerk."

"Heh, like someone else I know," said Finn.

"When Mom and Dad took you to see Grandpa for this first time, he refused to accept you as his grandson. He said you weren't really family."

"Seriously?" This was his idea of cheering Finn up? Telling him he had another family member who didn't love him?

"Dad got into a huge fight with him. I'd never seen him so mad. Mom had to take us home cause the yelling was scaring us and making us cry. He didn't come home for hours." Jermaine recalled how his father looked when he finally came back. No fight with a demon ever made Joshua look as worn as he did that night.

"I overheard him talking to Mom about what happened. He told his dad that if he wouldn't accept you as part of the family, then Grandpa couldn't be part of the family. We never saw Grandpa again."

"Aw, man. I'm sorry Jermaine. I took your grandpa away from you."

Pssh, please. We all hated his guts. He was mean, he was boring, and he smelled weird." Jermaine was relieved when Finn laughed. "From what they said, Dad and Grandpa's relationship was already pretty strained. Saying you weren't really family was just the straw the broke the camel's back."

"Wow, I never knew that," said Finn.

"My point is; Dad knows what it's like to have a lousy father. He would know what you're going through."

"Jermaine, I think…I think I remember when grandpa died." The memory just came back to Finn. He must have locked it in the vault a long time ago.

"I don't think so. I don't remember that."

"No, I do. I remember. I remember…"

 _Finn remembered one time where his father put on a suit which struck them all as odd as Joshua hated wearing suits. He hadn't acted like himself either. Their passionate and wily father had been listless the entire morning before leaving for several hours. They asked their mother why their father was behaving so strangely. Margaret avoided the question and simply told them not to bother Dad when he came back._

 _Finn, of course, couldn't let a good mystery go._

 _Finn found Joshua sitting in his chair unusually quiet and pensive. It appeared he couldn't be bothered to take off the black suit he claimed to hate so much. He tried to smile when he noticed Finn looking at him, but even little Finn didn't buy it back then. "Where have you been, Daddy?"_

 _"Just boring grown-up stuff. Why don't you run along now kiddo?" Joshua tried to shoo Finn away, but the boy was unrelenting._

 _"Why are you acting so weird?"_

 _Joshua sighed. He knew his son well enough to know he won't drop the matter so easily. "My father passed away."_

 _Finn was too young to understand the concept of death. He would not truly understand for many years to come until his own father's time came. But he knew it was something that made people cry when it happened. "Are you sad?"_

 _"Honestly, son, I'm not sure." Joshua stared straight ahead like he wasn't even speaking to Finn now. "I hadn't seen him in a very long time."_

 _"Why not?"_

 _"Because we got into a fight a long time ago, and we stopped seeing each other," Joshua said simply._

 _"Why didn't you just make up?"_

 _Joshua looked back down at Finn. He couldn't stop the small bits of regret from etching on his face. He picked Finn up and placed him on his lap. He stared at Finn appearing to be in deep thought. He pulled Finn into a hug before finally answering his question. "He wasn't worth it, son."_

"Finn?" Jermaine pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, what'd you say?"

"I said, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm better than fine actually." Finn felt better than he had in a while. "Thanks, bro."

"Anytime." Jermaine gave Finn a fist bump.

"I'll see you later, bro, okay?" Finn made his way out the door.

"Don't be a stranger, okay, Finn?" Jermaine waved him goodbye.

"I won't," said Finn.

Not ever again.


End file.
